PREGUNTAS A UNA AFECTADA

Figure 4.11: eResponse Tactical Picture – Deployment of Aid Convoy

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Knowledge-Intensive Fusion for Situational Awareness 28

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Figure 4.13: Distribution of Aid Supplies and SAR Operations – 3D Relief View

4.4.1 Time Period

 30/03/2002 06:00 - 30/04/2002 21:00

4.4.2 Timeline

Figure 4.14: eResponse Phase Timeline

Time

Event

Description

30/03/2002 06.28 Mine Action Activities 12 Mechanized Brigade surveys the area of the proposed relief camp, which will also serve as an operational centre for the relief effort, to determine the risk posed by UXO. There is no intelligence information to support the presence of land mines, although since Ghazni has been the focus of previous air strikes there is a considerable risk of cluster bombs. These were previously used against Taliban forces in the early stages of the conflict.

30/03/2002 09.08 Dispatch of Relief Convoy The initial relief convoy is dispatched from Kabul to Ghazni.

30/03/2002 06:00:00 30/03/2002 21:00:00

07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 09:08 - 13:16

Transit of Relief Convoy to Ghazni 12:20 Arrival of Relief Convoy 13:16 - 21:54 Arrival of Evacuees at ZX-1 14:24 ICRC Helicopter Begins

SAR Operations 13:50 Aid Supplies Arrive at ZX-1 via Airlift

17:34 Military Oversee Aid Distribution 09:08 Dispatch of Relief Convoy 13:16 Camp ZX-1 Established 06:28 - 09:00

Mine Action Activities 06:28

Mine Action Activities Begin

10:08 Relocation of 12 Mechanized Brigade 15:28 Aerial Distribution of Relief Supplies 16:40 Mobbing of Food Supplies at ZX-1

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Time

Event

Description

30/03/2002 10:08 Relocation of 12 Mechanized Brigade

12 Mechanized Brigade are re-positioned to the north of Ghazni on standby.

29/03/2002 12:20 Arrival of Relief Convoy The relief convoy arrives at the proposed site for the relief camp outside Ghazni.

29/03/2002 13:16 Camp ZX-1 Established The relief camp is established. It serves an operational centre for the relief effort and includes provisions for displaced persons and medical aid.

29/03/2002 13.50 Aid Supplies Arrive via Airlift Additional aid supplies are delivered to ZX-1 via airlift using Chinook helicopters

29/03/2002 14.24 ICRC Helicopter Begins SAR Operations

SAR operations are undertaken by an ICRC helicopter in the rural regions affected by the flood.

29/03/2002 15:28 Aerial Distribution of Relief Supplies

The Blackhawk helicopter is re-tasked with the aerial distribution of relief supplies to outlying rural regions. It is joined in this task by a Sea King helicopter.

29/03/2002 16:40 Civil Disturbance in Ghazni Reports emerge of civil unrest in Ghazni in the form of mobbing of aid supplies and a number of shooting incidents.

29/03/2002 17:34 Military Oversee Aid Distribution Military assets are called in to oversee the distribution effort. Ground forces are deployed in Ghazni and Apache and Blackhawk helicopters provide air-based surveillance and security. 4.4.3 Figures  Figure 4.11  Figure 4.12  Figure 4.13 4.4.4 Synopsis

This period is marked by the distribution of humanitarian aid. The humanitarian relief effort codenamed (Sultan Relief) is initiated. A relief convoy is assembled to supply aid to the affected region using the main route from Kabul to Ghazni (Route 104). This route is deemed passable to trucks used by the coalition relief effort. The humanitarian agencies wish to set up a relief camp on the outskirts of Ghazni to deal with people temporarily made homeless as a result of the flood. Units from 12 Mechanized Brigade are deployed into this area well ahead of the arrival of the relief convoy in order to secure the area and to investigate the risk with respect to UXO.

The security situation is deemed sufficiently hazardous for the HC to request an armed escort for the relief convoy to Ghazni. The reluctance of the ICRC to accept armed escorts by those directly involved in combat operations, namely the US-led coalition forces, necessitates the use of careful measures on behalf of the military to preserve the perceived neutrality of humanitarian actors. Eventually, it is decided that military support will be provided to the convoy using airborne assets in the form of an Apache helicopter with ground support provided by ISAF elements, which operate under a UN mandate. In accordance with IASC guidelines a clear distinction is to be made between humanitarian and military escort vehicles in the context of the transport of relief supplies to the affected region.

The relief convoy is deployed to Ghazni at 09.08. On arrival, an operations centre and relief camp is established on the outskirts of Ghazni to the north-east (codenamed ZX1). Some aid supplies are distributed via airlift into this base using Chinook helicopters requisitioned from the US Army. Aid representatives are deployed into Ghazni and the provincial leadership is contacted to assist with the supervision of the support efforts. Some aid supplies are deployed directly into Ghazni. Following the wish of the humanitarian agencies to operate without military supervision in the distribution of aid supplies, military agents do not assist with the distribution of aid. A Blackhawk

Knowledge-Intensive Fusion for Situational Awareness 31 helicopter is, however, tasked with overseeing the humanitarian relief effort from the air within Ghazni. Units from the 12 Mechanised Brigade are re-positioned to the north of Ghazni along Route 104 on standby. An evacuation operation is initiated to transfer all inhabitants made homeless by the flood water to Zulu-Xray.

The ICRC helicopter begins SAR operations in the flooded region north of Ghazni and begins to transport rescued civilians from the rural regions into Zulu-Xray. The helicopter reports that significant numbers of people are made homeless by the flood and this necessitates the deployment of aid supplies directly to the affected communities. The humanitarian community wants to deliver aid supplies by air to these communities and this requires close inter-operation with military agencies regarding the security of the airspace in the region affected by the flood. Sea King Mk7 and Blackhawk helicopters (the one previously tasked with surveillance of the relief distribution effort in Ghazni) are enlisted into the aid distribution effort to outlying rural regions. As the air picture in the affected region becomes increasingly busy, the need for situation awareness is heightened. At this stage of the scenario, as at other stages, a key operational requirement is an awareness of what actors are deployed into the theatre of operations and what they are doing. This is necessary in order to avoid inadvertent targeting of neutral assets as well as coalition forces. The tactical picture at this juncture in the scenario is highly complicated, featuring a complex mixture of both airborne and land-based agents with different operational foci. This complexity is compounded by the presence of agents with very different organizational affiliations and roles, i.e. US-led coalition forces, ISAF, Afghan civilians, humanitarian agencies and news agency representatives.

As aid supplies are distributed within Ghazni, the relief camp and surrounding regions, the security situation within Ghazni deteriorates. News reports emerge of civil disturbance in Ghazni in the form of widespread looting and mobbing of food supply vehicles. It is also reported that a number of humanitarians and civilians have been the target of shooting incidents. While reports from humanitarian agencies are unable to confirm the use of arms, they do confirm that the situation in the vicinity of the aid distribution point is increasingly hostile and threatening. Mobile phones are used by humanitarian aid personnel to transmit images of the situation in Ghazni back to base. At this point there is a conflict between the interpretations of the situation between the humanitarian and military agencies. The military agencies perceive the situation as necessitating the deployment of military assets, while the humanitarians perceive the situation as manageable and under control. Finally, the military is able to provide the HC with video footage derived from news reports that confirms looting and shooting incidents within Ghazni. This is sufficient for the HC to ask for military assistance with respect to the security situation in Ghazni. Military personnel, in the form of 12 Mechanized Brigade, are subsequently called on to control the situation and supervise the distribution of food and water in Ghazni. An Apache helicopter is also called in to oversee the distribution of food aid from the air. All reports about the security situation are monitored to detect any worsening of the situation, but the presence of military forces on the scene is sufficient to bring the situation under control.

Throughout this phase of the operation multiple information sources are monitored to provide feedback about the success of the operation and acquire information about situation contingencies that may require significant re-planning or reorganization of the relief effort. Information of interest includes changes in the flood levels, the meteorological outlook, incidences of civil disorder or unrest, military attacks on relief convoys and coalition forces, information about fatalities and the

Knowledge-Intensive Fusion for Situational Awareness 32 international response to the disaster. In addition, military agencies are interested in monitoring changes in the background level of conflict throughout the country that may indicate civil unrest in light of the disaster. Weather reports for the local region are monitored for evidence of any precipitation events that might adversely affect the relief effort. The military provide access to further satellite imagery products, although these can only be used at periodic intervals throughout the scenario. News reports from various news agencies provide information about the situation in Ghazni and elsewhere, including the national and international response to the humanitarian crisis. The military’s concern with the political impact of the crisis warrants an interest in all news reports that provide information about the flood. They are particularly concerned with the manner in which the flood is presented in the media. Any information sources that provide information about the disaster are relevant in this respect, including information sources that may misrepresent the military’s position or deliberately attempt to misinform the public as a means to undermine political support for continued military action. Incidents such as these are deemed relevant to the military’s media operations and strategic information campaign.

4.4.5 Focus Task Areas

The key focus task area for this phase of the scenario is purely one of situation monitoring. Situation awareness is enhanced via the ability to integrate information from multiple sources and to visualize the situation in a manner the permits of the juxtaposition of very different situation elements. Users of the system at this point should have the capability to view the tactical picture from a variety of different perspectives. The humanitarian tactical picture will consist of humanitarian agents and their activities, while the military picture will consist primarily of military assets (both land and air components). It should, however, be possible to arbitrarily compose any form of tactical picture based on semantic queries, which indicate the types of situation elements of interest with respect to the monitoring objectives of an observer agent. In addition, this phase of the scenario clearly demonstrates the use and exploitation of a number of diverse information sources, which are used to alert agencies of the occurrence of particular events and are exchanged with other agencies in order to coordinate activities and improve operational effectiveness (this is clearly the case when military agents consolidate information from the Blackhawk helicopter and news reports in order to provide evidence of the worsening security situation to humanitarian agencies).

This phase of the scenario does not feature any conventional rules-based reasoning. It does however avail itself of the considerable power afforded by subsumption reasoning in terms of the automatic classification of situation elements. The ability to exploit the semantic meta-data associated with information products is also crucial in terms of identifying the semantic referents of diverse information sources, such as field reports, imagery and video products. As such, this phase of the scenario provides an opportunity to highlight the advantages of semantic web technology with respect to information integration, semiometric filtering and improved search and retrieval capabilities.